Baseball

Sanchez homers again, Yankees rout Orioles 14-4

ABS-CBN Sports on Aug 27, 2016 04:19 PM

New York Yankees' Gary Sanchez, right, greets Mark Teixeira after scoring on Teixeira's first-inning, two-run home run in a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in New York, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Gary Sanchez homered for the eighth time in nine games and drove in four runs as the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 14-4 on Friday.

Mark Teixeira and Chase Headley also went deep for the surging Yankees, who moved five games over .500 for the first time this season.

Sanchez, who had three hits, had a two-out single in the bottom of the first. Teixeira followed with a towering shot into the right-field bleachers off Yovani Gallardo to give New York a 2-1 lead.

The Yankees broke the game open against Gallardo (4-6) with a six-run second. The right-hander was charged with eight runs over 1 1/3 innings, the shortest start of his 10-year career.

Luis Cessa (4-0) gave up three runs and five hits over six innings in his second big-league start.

Manny Machado, who gave the Orioles the lead with a homer in the first, hit his second of the game into the right-field seats in the sixth for his 31st home run of the season.

Russell Martin and Justin Smoak each homered and drove in five runs and the Toronto Blue Jays handed the Minnesota Twins its eighth straight loss, 15-8.

Josh Donaldson and Darwin Barney also homered. Francisco Liriano had his first win with Toronto to help the Blue Jays take a one-game lead over Baltimore in the AL East.

Adrian Beltre hit a solo homer in the sixth for the AL West-leading Rangers, but Kluber (14-8) struck out the other three hitters in the right-hander's final inning to finish with seven strikeouts.

Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon homered, and Ian Kennedy allowed one run through five innings as the Kansas City Royals continued their hot streak with a 6-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Kansas City has won 11 of its last 12 games.

Jeff Samardzija and two relievers combined on a seven-hitter, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 7-0.

Angel Pagan homered while Brandon Belt, Denard Span and Buster Posey added two hits apiece for the Giants which closed to within one game of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which lost 6-4 to the Chicago Cubs, in the race for the NL West.

Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy hit solo homers and drove in two runs each, and Gio Gonzalez earned his 100th career victory as the Washington Nationals beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5.

Jordy Mercer's first career grand slam capped a five-run sixth inning that started with two errors by Milwaukee third baseman Jonathan Villar, and the Pittsburgh Pirates held off the Brewers 5-3.

Justin Verlander pitched into the eighth inning and Justin Upton homered for the fourth time in five games as the Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2.

The Tigers have won five straight to move back into contention in both the AL Central and wild-card races.

Jedd Gyorko homered and Luke Weaver pitched six strong innings to earn his first major league win as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Oakland Athletics 3-1 and Chris Johnson's run-scoring ground-rule double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave the Miami Marlins a 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres.

Also Friday, the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1, the Houston Astros topped the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 and the Arizona Diamondbacks had a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in 11 innings.